The Dimensions of Religion as Underpinning Constructs for Mass Media Social Marketing Campaigns: An Emerging Concept

Article excerpt

Abstract

The purpose of this review is to consider the underlying concepts and related issues that have been proposed in the literature of the potential relationship to use the dimensions of religion as constructs for mass media social marketing campaigns. The literature appears divided as to whether: (1) an individual's attitude changes and then their behaviour or (2) behaviour and then attitude, as a result of mass media social marketing campaigns. Whilst the seven dimensions of religion help characterise the constructs and under-pinning themes of religion(s) and their existence in the world today, there does not appear to be a definitive approach to the way we professionally practice, capitalise, use, create or evaluate mass media social marketing campaigns. Whilst both concepts have received and continue to receive growing attention in the literature, further clarification and understanding can only be sought via questions surrounding the emerging concept, which will further assist in distilling the information and possibly provide a new beginning for the study of the concept as well as providing guidance for professional practice.

This review has been developed using both electronic database searches and conventional printed journal and other publication searches. The electronic databases accessed were: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Business Source Premier, Emerald, Factiva, Informit, Jstor, ProQuest 5000, Science Direct, Scopus, Web of Knowledge and Wiley Online Library. The abstract search terms that were used to generate the primary lists from which relevant materials were selected included: dimensions of religion; religion; constructs of religion; mass media social marketing campaigns; mass media; social marketing; mass media campaigns and social marketing campaigns. Tertiary and secondary electronic searches were conducted using key terms (i.e. authors) derived from materials in the primary list and manual searches.

It begins with a description of the approach adopted to create the review. This is followed by the development of themes to guide the review. These themes include two parent disciplines followed by the immediate discipline as outlined in figure 1.

It is important to note, that in totality; mass media social marketing campaigns is considered as one of the parent discipline themes. This grouped theme helps maintain a myopia view, where as splitting into multiple themes (i.e. mass media; social marketing; mass media campaigns; social marketing campaigns) would dilute the intent of the research and possibly become unmanageable. Finally, the review is bought together in a conclusion that sets the scene for further research to be conducted.

1.1 Approach to this Review

While the extent of the literature directly related to the dimensions of religion was limited, the literature is central to the seminal and subsequent works of Professor Ninian Smart who is considered an authority in religious studies. The literature directly related to mass media social marketing campaigns was formidable and as previously mentioned, the inclusion as broken into individual themes had the potential to make it quite unmanageable.

In the context of the complexity suggested by the inter-related concepts mentioned above and the steady growing body of literature, the central challenge in constructing this review was choosing the materials to include and exclude.

The selection criteria developed focused on whether the key terms were regarded as seminal work, directly addressed in the work and the year of publication. Materials that duplicated ideas were omitted, therefore making the sources redundant.

Still remaining for consideration was a wide variety of literature. These, of course, included seminal works such as: those of Lenski (1961), Smart (1971), Kotler and Zaltman (1971) and Kotler (1975). …